I’m not sure I’d agree with the assertion out there that we’re about to divide into Fudds and Shooters. I’ve seen few people defending Zumbos actual comments, but I think a lot of people lining up in his corner are defending Jim Zumbo the man, more than defending what he said. We do need to be careful not to be seen by the hunting community as sharks that are tasting blood in the water, and are ready to go into a frenzy.

I agree with folks who have pointed out that Jim is “Stuck on Fudd” with his comments that indicate he still only views AR-15s through the lens of their hunting utility. This really shouldn’t come as a surprise, considering Zumbo is a lifelong hunter. Now, don’t get me wrong, I want to see Jim jump back on the second amendment bandwagon and start helping reach out to hunters to make them understand what’s at stake, but you can’t expect the guy to change who he is, and what he loves to do. We should let Jim remain a hunter at heart, because that’s what he is. He’s never going to become one of us, in all liklihood. All we should ask of him is that he get on board with defending gun rights, all guns rights, period. If he wants to not like AR-15s because he doesn’t like to hunt with them, fine.

The reason it’s important, is because the majory of hunters that Jim can reach have absolutely no idea what went on this past weekend. Unless Outdoor Life runs a summary piece of the incident, you’ll have hundreds of thousands of hunters out there who will get subsequent issues and think “What ever happened to ol’ Jim Zumbo? I really used to love reading his great hunting articles.” It’s those people that we need to reach. Jim would be a good vehicle for that if he can be educated. But we must be patient an tolerant in that process. My vote is let The Nuge work his magic, and we’ll see where it goes from there.

2 Responses to “The Zumbo Defenders”

The problem with Zumbo isn’t that he is uneducated. It’s that he’s an elitist snob who went way overboard calling ARs terrorist rifles, which implied that the owners of such firearms are terrorists as well.

I don’t know the guy well enough to make that call. His comments were bad enough that I think he deserved what he got, but he still has a tremendous following among hunters, and if he can be brought on board, he could be a very powerful voice for us with an audience that the political message doesn’t typically reach. It’s kind of the old “he’s worth more to us alive than dead” mantra you hear in the movies.

Now that we’ve bitch slapped Zumbo over his asinine comments, I think we should give him the opportunity to try to repair the damage he’s done. I’m not so much upset over the fact that he called me a terrorist. I’ve been called worse. But I am really pissed off at the damage he did to the RKBA community, and I want to see him make it up to us. Maybe he won’t, in which case, good riddance. But he could do a lot of good if properly motivated. I think he deserves the chance.